our house: where we live

We had a hectic weekend with lots of activities because Halloween kicks off the end of the year festivities.  But amidst all of the commotion, my nesting instinct was in overdrive, and much to my husband's horror {because he typically has to help execute my vision and he has a lot of stubbed toes and fingers to prove it}, I wanted to move things around our house yet again.  Anyone that knows me {in real life} knows that the things in my house do not stay where they are for long and that every visit will greet them with a different view of our house.

So before it changes yet again, I want to at least take some pictures of our living space.  Through the years, all of my treasured items collected over time end up here and all of the knick knacks goes elsewhere waiting to be replaced with treasured items.  But for now, our living room is the best reflection of my style and comfort of home.

I adore the colors that are present here. The blue and yellow, the black and white, the contrast in cool and warm is just perfect for me.  But among all of these, the room's best quality is the amount of light that fill this space with the two ginormous windows that plank this space.

The gallery wall is by far my favorite yet.  I truly think that this is the place that identifies us as the occupants of these walls.  Each personal photo or piece of art that fill the frames is personal.  That blue piece in the center of the wall, an embroidered piece of art handmade in Vietnam {my home country} that depicts exactly how my life was before I founded another in the states.  My mother brought it back for me knowing that I would enjoy these things during her last trip there over a year ago.  There are a few pictures of our girl at different stages of her life, along with her footprints imprinted only minutes after she was born.  The vintage typewriter was a Christmas gift from Joe in the year we moved in this place.  The wood seahorse was a carved piece we picked up on our honeymoon in Cabo san Lucas, Mexico.  The "vintage" fan was a splurge from Restoration Hardware at 50% a couple of years ago. They all sat atop a credenza that I picked up at the Salvation Army 50% sale for $30.  Being what it is, it remained my favorite piece of furniture that I ever brought into our home.  It is scratched up, it is well used and well loved, and I wouldn't have it any other way.  The vintage keys were ordered from eBay because I love them.

   

This is the view from the kitchen hallway, where an owl umbrella stand {a gift from my mother/sister for my 27th birthday} housed some white curly twigs greet us everyday.  

 

The George Nelson clock below was a recent addition to the space.  It's perfection in color, function and aesthetic for my taste.  I think I will forever love this thing.

 

 This "old" wine crate was a new addition from Target, on sale for $10.  As a matter of fact, I think the tag is still on it as I type this.  I debated this purchase while I browsed the aisle, keeping current with minimizing the amount of stuff I bring into my house.  I'm glad I ended up bringing this home because I end up loving it, and what I love most is its price. 

 

I have very few books in my house although I love to read because I believe that real estate is too expensive to house a library, especially when I am constraint in the space for living.  So with constraint resources, I'm happy to forgo the concept of a library in my house, so for now, I read library books and digital books.  The corals that sat atop of the books were also a gift brought back from Vietnam by my parents.  While they don't understand my obsession with home decor, they do know my taste and once in a while indulge me.

I can't say enough how much I adore this space.  This is where we spend most of time together as a family, so it is only fitting that everything I adore end up here.

Below are some sources of where I got these knick-knacks that I think might be interesting, or just because I got a banging deal for them that I want to scream from the rooftop.

Furniture Sources:
Couch: $1,100 - local furniture store. 

Credenza - $30 - thrifted from Salvation Army
Ottoman - $120 - Overstock
Bookcases - $0 {gift certificates received from our wedding} - Crate and Barrel
TV stand - $100 - Walmart
Rocking chair - $90 - The Foundary {online member's only sale site}

Details Sources: 
Dwell Studio pillows - on sale for $6/each - Target
Ceramic garden stool - gift - Target
Gallery wall frames - various - Target and Ikea
Rug - $230 - Overstock
Fan - $90 - Restoration Hardware
Vintage typewriter - gift - Craiglist
Pink tray atop the ottoman - $20 - ZGallerie
Owl umbrella stand - gift - Amazon
George Nelson clock - $50 - The Foundary
Wine crate - $10 - Target
2 sets of white curtains - on sale for $20 {$10/set} - Ikea
Curtain rods - $20/each - Target
Bamboo blinds - $40/each - Overstock
Milk glass items - less than $5/piece - thifted at Salvation Army
Vintage keys - $10 - eBay

Week 64: You are both my greatest achievement and proudest moment

Of all the accomplishments I have done in the past, present and future, you remained my proudest moment and greatest achievement.

brownie: first four words

"Maamaaa, maamaa, maamaa" is the response we get when we asked our girl to say "Mama."
"Taayaaa" is the reply we get when she sneezed and we tell her "God bless you."
"Daadaa" is the word for everything else, including Daddy.
"Veegee" is the echo coming from the kitchen while our girl hold a dog treat in hand chasing after our poor dog Reggie urging him to take it from her.

My girl's mother tongue is forming.  She speaks on command, and she speaks in response, she speaks when she wants to.  Her vocabulary is limited, and after a while, they slur into a's and e's, but she ensured to let everyone knows what's on her mind.  Whatever else she can't say, she signs.  She moves her fingers together to indicate that she wants to be sung The Itsy Bitsy Spider.  We sing it at least 10 times before bed and at least 30 times a day, so much so that she is starting to know how to do the hand gestures along with the song. 

I am amazed at this little girl and I am even more amazed at how I got here.  This is not a story about a bragging mother who writes about the amazing things that her baby girl can do, but it is a simple story about a humbled mother who is constantly amazed by the capabilities her girl possesses within her little body. 

Never in my life does time past as fast as these.  The faster time goes, and the more Lia learns and demonstrate her growth, the more acutely aware I am that I, along with her father, are for now her sole teachers.  We possess the capabilities to leave permanent imprints on her budding mind and that is a big responsibility.  Soon enough, she will collect memories and knowledge that will be with her for the rest of her life.  I have to assess what I want her to remember about this time of her life, or more importantly, what I want her to say about her life, when she is old enough to string eloquent sentences together with a myriad of vocabularies beyond the four she possesses now.  I hope that those sentences would still be filled often with her first four words. 

an extended weekend

We had a couple of house guests these past few days, and we had a whirlwind of a time. My in-laws were in town, primarily to participate and celebrate with my husband one of the greatest achievements in his career if not his life, and I couldn't be any prouder of my dear husband. They stayed a few more days to spend some time with their granddaughter, who they don't get to see very much having live 3,000 miles away. As a matter of fact, this is the third time they see our girl in her 14 months of life, and in instances like these, I am humbled by one of the greatest tragedies of life -  being physically separated from the people we love. 

It is one of those realities that I came to know and even appreciate as I age.  It is not that time is fleeting, but it is the time with people we love and want to be with is fleeting.  Every single day we are forced to spend strenuous amount of time with people we don't want to be with - a disgruntled coworker, a hard-to-please customer - and those times never seem to end.  But the time that we have with the people we love, the time we want to spend with the people we love, is just never enough.  It's geography, it's finances, it's time, it's all encompassing.  But the greatest of all of this is that it provides a measurement for the love we place onto them. 

 Becoming a part of my in-laws' families provided me with certain insights into the concept of a blended family.  It is diverse and it is large, consisting of the great web of full, step, half, and unrelated - both in genetics and in law - family members.  It's a great dynamic, one that often gets crazy, but also one that unites when the time calls for it.  I am fortunate to have married into it.  While I hope my relationship with each one of them could be better, closer, but it is something that can only be built through close proximity, I consider my relationship with my parents-in-law and siblings-in-law a good one, and I don't take that for granted.  I understand full well that it could certainly be worse.

So whenever they come and visit, I am more than happy to share my time and my home with them, taking advantage of these times to connect with them.  We packed a whole lot of activities into the five short days, visiting places that I know full well and taking us to places we have never been but always been meaning to go. 

I took a few days off while they were here, and while my husband was at work, the four of us packed up and headed north to San Francisco, where we dine, drank, sip coffee at the fisherman's wharf, and provided a medium for Lia to get to know her grandparents in the open space.

The funny story about this picture is that the five minute dip in the bay water off of Ghirardelli Square, resulted in an extremely wet and cold baby, leading three grown adults running around town into multiple souvenir shops with a naked baby trying to find her a new dry outfit. We would have paid $100 for a shirt that says "I <3 SF." It is one of those memories that bring us to tears from laughter years down the road, recollecting about that time where two grandparents almost gave their granddaughter pneumonia and teaches a young mother to always pack an extra outfit for a day's outing.

On the weekend when Joe is able to join us, we packed up and headed out of town to Sonoma wine country, to celebrate my father-in-law's birthday. Because we haven't been able to get any pumpkins yet after the bust of the trip to the pumpkin festival last weekend, we had to sneak off the highway to get some at the Petaluma Pumpkin Patch.

It was such a hot Indian summer day that after an hour of exposure to the heat, our girl was done and wanted nothing more to do with pumpkins.

We escape the beating sun and headed towards the vineyards, where a few samples from the tasting room and a conversation with one of the employees led to an impromptu picnic in front of a deserted vineyard, consisting of crackers, cheese, a chilled bottle of sauvignon blanc, peppered with echoing laughter, family and a breathtaking view.

We took this opportunity of having the entire vineyard at our disposal to do an impromptu photoshoot.

We ended the night with a beautiful seafood dinner, to celebrate a year past, the day enjoyed, the moment captured, and the promises of the coming year, for a man that Joe consider a father.

As for my girl, she finally came around to being with her grandparents, I may even go so far as saying that she's used to having another set of people dotting on her, and reading to her at night before bed. While she is too young to miss their presence, I can't help but wish they live just a bit closer so that these memories can be recreated, in different settings, a little more often. These will be the memories we keep until the next time we are together again.

Week 63: Pay attention to the shifts in seasons

It will provide you with a greater insight into your environment and consequently yourself as a creature of that habitat. 

all in the company

We hustled and bustled just to get out of the door by noon on Saturday, we were running late as usual.  Amidst all the chaos, my phone continued to buzz, every vibration mocking and reminding me that I am late because there was yet another family already on the road to our intended destination.  We were all meeting at the Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Festival, and at this rate, all would be left for us would be those pimply pumpkins that nobody want.

Alas, we got on the road, breezing through the 40 miles only to come to a dead halt for the last 8.  It took 30 minutes to do the first 40, but hour and half for the last 8.  Finally, we found parking and joined the crowd around 2:15pm, walking excitedly towards our group, our people, ready to get our hands on some pumpkins. 

As if the day was set out to make a mockery of us, there were no pumpkins.  Well I mean there were pumpkins, but they were not for purchased but for decorations.  However, beer was plentiful, in its Oktoberfest fashion, and then this hits me, it was a festival and not a patch!  Oh the irony. We left empty handed, saved for some extremely tired kids that absolutely insisted that they be carried for the last 500 feet to the car because they simply cannot go on another step.  We still managed to kill 3 hours there, braving crowds, staying together, entertaining each other and letting the kids run wild in the freedom of closed off roads.  While there were no pumpkins to be had, the kids didn't know otherwise and still managed to have fun, and so did the adults. It is all in the company.

We had a busy weekend, filled with lots of driving to get to friends. But as the saying goes, "The road to a friend's house is never long", so we drove and we see friends. But amidst all the craziness, we find time to rest, no matter how fleeting or inconvenient.

Of course, it is always when we are the worst of chaos that more chaos occurs.  My girl got it in her head that it would be fun to dump the dog bowl full of foods out for the dog to eat, as if the dog cannot get to it if it is contained in a bowl.

The priceless look on her face when she realized she was caught in the act.

She makes up for it by helping to clean the place up, except she thought the mess was on the wall instead of the floor.

She also thinks it hilarious to drink water, hold it in her mouth, and when Mama's not watching, let it slowly drip out.

She makes up for it by being her cute self who totally wraps us around her little fingers so we can't stay mad.

She learned to say cheese and gave us her best cheese face for pictures.

Happy Monday. Cheese!